Should animal dissections be banned in schools?

Sep 20, 2017,
Anjum Khan

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No, animal dissection should not be banned: Animal anatomy is almost same as human beings and has been used to study for many centuries now. Animal dissection in schools is universal. Students gain practical knowledge only if they practice animal dissection at schools. Theoretical knowledge is incomplete without students getting hands on experience.

Real understanding of animal anatomy -Even though schools now provide animal dissection knowledge through videos and documentaries but it is nowhere equal to real animal dissection in the school laboratory. Moreover, students lose interest in the virtual demonstration as compared to practical knowledge. So, it is better that schools provide animal dissection in their labs..

Familiarity in students - Schools providing animal dissection will get used to this practice which will help them in their higher education. Even if the student is not comfortable with animal anatomy experiments then from this stage onwards he/she will be able to decide about their medical practice specialisation.

Yes, animal dissection should be banned:Animal dissection involves cutting open the body of an animal and not every student is comfortable doing it. For some students, animal dissection is distressing experience as they need to kill the animal and then studying its anatomy.

Virtual knowledge over real animal dissection - Schools can refer to videos available for animal dissection instead of actual animal dissection. Every animal dissection these days are recorded and explained properly so students can learn from videos instead of cutting animals.

Animal Cruelty – Animal dissection at schools is one of the major reasons towards animal cruelty as each student has to get his/her own specimen for the practical classes. For which students even buy live animals like rat, snakes, rabbit, lizards etc and then they kill it to perform the practical experiment.

Instability in ecosystem - This is very dangerous for our eco-system as we see the extinction of many species of animals and if animal dissection continuous then many more species will be lost in the coming decades. Instability in the ecosystem will be against human existence too.

Infection risks are higher - the animal body is full of bacteria and viruses which can be contaminated in students during animal dissection in school labs. Also, if proper sanitation is not done then it may affect students’ health at school.

Conclusion: Animal dissection is a sensitive issue as it involves animal cruelty. Schools should prefer alternatives to animal dissection. They must refer to the video tutorials, set ups on animal dissection instead of cutting up real animals. Animal dissection also encourages animal traders to illegally sell animals in the market. This disturbs the animal habitat as they trap animals to sell in the market. Animal dissection either in schools, colleges or medical labs is cruelty to animals and it should not be encouraged if we do not want to disturb our flora and fauna.